Haitian Capital Slowed by Strike Over Aborted Vote

By JOSEPH B. TREASTER, Special to the New York Times

Published: December 8, 1987

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec. 7—
Most stores and offices in the Haitian capital were shut today and most factory workers stayed away from their jobs to protest the violent disruption of national elections eight days ago.

But many jitney drivers, street vendors and government employees went to work, and for many of those who had hoped to rebuke the army-dominated provisional government the strike was a disappointment.

Michel Soukar, a spokesman for the National Committee of the Congress of Democratic Movements, one of the groups that had organized the protest, said the strike had been ''closer to a failure than a success.''

Mid-day reports on independent radio stations indicated the strike was partly observed in a handful of cities and towns around the country. Early this evening, some of the organizers of the strike urged that it be continued for a second day.

The strike was the first organized manifestation of anger and disappointment over the aborted election and was intended to force the army-dominated provisional government to rescind its decision to dismiss the civilians who had tried to organize the election. Some strike supporters had also been hoping to put pressure on the government headed by Lieut. Gen. Henri Namphy to resign. No Comment From Government

The government, following its usual pattern of silence, had no comment on the strike. But a businessman who is close to the government said General Namphy and his colleagues interpreted the results as a victory for themselves and were continuing today with efforts to organize new elections.

''If they had managed to close down Port-au-Prince completely, I think the Government would be facing a very different situation,'' the businessman said.

The four leading presidential candidates, the Roman Catholic Church, the country's human rights groups and several labor organizations are arrayed against the Government. There is no indication they are prepared to give up. Rather, they are expected to regroup and try to find new strategies for a struggle that many expect to drag on for weeks.

Some Haitians, including the businessman with close ties to the Government, said they believed the failure of the strike to win unanimous support was possibly less a reflection of attitudes toward the Government than of the traditional concern of many Haitians to earn money at this time of year for some simple Christmas gifts and a special holiday stew.

''They chose the worse possible time to try this kind of thing,'' the businessman said. 'Asking Them to Go Bankrupt'

Mr. Soukar of the National Committee of the Congress of Democratic Movements, agreed.

''Asking people to strike now is asking them to go bankrupt,'' he said. ''There had already been 10 days of economic slump because of all the problems with the election and now people need money for Christmas.''

After the refusal of five civic and religious organizations to recognize the legality of the Government's dismissal of the nine members of the original electoral council and to name replacements, the Government is now reportedly preparing to fill the council seats with its own appointments.

Some of the leading candidates and other political leaders have suggested they will not accept an electoral council formed mainly by the Government, raising the questions about the extent of participation in the next attempt at elections and the credibility of the elections.

Some of the strike backers were unwilling to acknowledge that the strike had received less support than they had hoped. Louis Dejoie 2d, a leading presidential candidate, estimated that 80 percent of the stores and offices in Port-au-Prince had participated in the strike and said he regarded that as a success.

He acknowledged that perhaps as many as half of the city's jitneys had been operating. But he charged that they had been bribed by Government supporters to break the strike. A Cautious Approach

Tony Verdier, a spokesman for Marc Bazin, another of the leading presidential candidates who had been among the sponsors of the strike, said of the strike today: ''We're giving it a positive evaluation.''

In some of the other strikes, partisans had broken the windows of jitneys and cars and thrown up road blocks to force people to participate in the protest.

But, Mr. Verdier said, the random shooting and attacks on polling places by thugs in civilian clothes and soldiers, as well as weeks of previous killings, had imposed a measure of caution on the strike organizers.

''We couldn't send people out to be butchered,'' he said.

Claude Phenol, a tall, thin young Haitian who makes his living driving one of the fancifully painted jitneys that the Haitians, for reasons long forgotten, call tap-taps, said he and some fellow drivers had ''laid low this morning to see if people would smash our vehicles.'' Then they decided to hit the streets.

''I'm against the violence and what happened to the election,'' he said. ''But I must work.'' Troops on Patrol Unlike the days leading up to the election, when thugs terrorized election facilities with impunity, there were substantial numbers of troops on patrol today. At one garage this morning a couple of soldiers with submachine guns were seen talking with a group of drivers. A few minutes later the drivers drove off to begin a day's work, despite the strike call.

A secretary in a government agency, where perhaps 40 percent of the workers had stayed home, said that while she had been dismayed by the violent disruption of the elections, she thought a strike was futile gesture.

The Haitians, she said, could not sustain an indefinite strike and ''a protest of two days will have no impact.''

Nelson Hubert, a 58-year-old beauty salon owner, said he felt he had no choice but to strike.

''The Government is no good,'' he said. ''It kills people for no reason.'' Haitian Reassures O.A.S.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (AP) - The Haitian Foreign Minister assured the Organization of American States today that his country is embarked on an ''irreversible'' process toward the establishment of democratic rule.

''The democratic battle will be won,'' the Foreign Minister, Herard Abraham, told a special meeting of the O.A.S. permanent council.

The 31-nation O.A.S. later approved a resolution calling on Haiti to restore the democratic process through free elections. The resolution was supported by all members with the exception of Chile, which abstained.

The resolution deplored the acts of violence that led to dozens of deaths on Nov. 29 and the postponement of national elections just a few hours after the polls opened that day.

It reaffirmed that foreign nations have the ''fundamental duty'' to allow Haitians to decide their own destiny without outside interference.